Thomas Haden Church Wants Will Smith Banned From Oscars After Chris Rock Slap

During an appearance on the "Debatable" podcast with hosts Mark Goodman and Alan Light, the "Spiderman: No Way Home" actor stated that while he doesn't believe that Smith should have his Oscar award revoked, the "King Richard" star should be banned from any future festivities.

Although Church has no qualms with either Smith or his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, he called the star's explanation for the assault on Rock "a pretty pathetic excuse that he was doing it out of love, out of protection for Jada."

He continued, "I think that Will Smith should be banned from the Oscars for the rest of his life. I think he should have his Academy membership stripped, but I don't think he should have the Oscar taken from him."

The "Sideways" star acknowledged Smith's accomplishments, calling his Oscar Award a legitimate win.

"They're mutually exclusive, his accomplishments in the movie and the movie itself, it's not related to his actions."

Church said under normal circumstances he believes the couple to be "fine upstanding people," and in his mind Smith's actions are forgivable, "but it's not going to be forgivable on his terms."

During the Oscars ceremony, Smith rose from his seat to strike Rock in the face after he made a joke at Pinkett Smith's expense while presenting the award for Best Documentary.

Following the altercation the Academy released a statement on Twitter saying they "have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law."

In his speech, Will said he hoped the Academy would invite him back despite the incident. Rock has not responded publicly at all, but he did choose not to press charges.

On Monday evening, Will did issue a public apology to Rock on his Instagram page. "Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive," he wrote, describing his own behavior at the Oscars as "unacceptable and inexcusable."

"Jokes at my expense are part of the job, but a joke about Jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally." He then directly apologized to Rock, telling him, "I was out of line and I was wrong."

He also apologized again to the Academy and to the Williams family. Perhaps referencing his own words about love in his acceptance speech, Smith also wrote, "There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness."